Francine Katz was a former executive of a brewing company until she resigned from the company in 2008. She claims that she was paid less than half the base salary of her male coworkers; however, she was turned away every time she complained about the wage gap. In 2014, she sued her former employer for exclusion and salary discrimination due to her gender. Her case went through many appeals and eventually was refused to be heard. She was considered “ungrateful” when she brought up this discrepancy. Michelle Chen, from The Nation, questioned whether or not employees’ salaries should be kept a secret, and their survey shows that around 50% of workers are already restricted to withholding this information. The only reason why Francine Katz was able to take her fight to court was because she found out about her coworker’s compensation package. Not many employees are allowed to know such information at work.
1.) In your opinion did the company do anything wrong?
2.) Should employees be allowed to know what their coworkers earn?
The company is in the wrong for diplaying employees wages, however then the real question is how do you know if youre getting paid the right amount for the same work as your correspndng male coworkers.. no the employees should not be allowed to see their coworkers earning but their should be a union that manages eqaul pay within job fields.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the company did do something wrong because they weren't treating her the same as her coworker. They should not be able to withhold information about the salaries they pay their employees because than no one would be able to tell whether or not they are being discriminated against. Employees should be allowed to know what their coworkers earn so that the company does not underpay them.
ReplyDeleteThe company was totally in the wrong. It is unfair that they paid her predecessor more than she was paid for the same job, and it is just wrong and discriminatory. I think that employees should be allowed to know what their coworkers earn because otherwise, how are we going to eliminate the wage/payment gap between men and women who work the same job. I think that the company was in the wrong, like if the quality of their work is the same, why should she get paid any less for being born a woman? Who has that kind of right to say that because you were born a certain gender, you should get a different wage? Nobody, so the company is totally in the wrong and they are extremely discriminatory. So, in order to raise the awareness for this problem, employees should not be bound to keep their wages a secret.
ReplyDeleteThe company should be paying and treating every employee equally, regardless of their gender. The company is going against the equal pay act of 1963, which says that men and women need to have equal pay for Equal work. People should know what their coworkers earn because it allows everyone to know if their pay is fair.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think employees should be allowed to know what their co-workers earn. This information of what Katz predecessor made would have helped her to advocate for a more fair wage than what she was earning at the time. I think everyone should be able to know how much their coworkers are making because the company could have not been sued in the first place if there was a fair policy that made it possible for wage information. A policy like that would help women be able to advocate for themselves better if they felt like they deserved a higher wage. This would also help prevent wage gaps within a company in the future. She could use something like the California Fair Pay Act to ensure a fairer wage because it requires companies to pay equal wages for "Substantially similar work."
ReplyDeleteIt should be allowed to know the compensation of other employees wages for reasons exactly like this. This woman was being unfairly paid and without having known this issue, it would have never been recognized and the problem would have continued. The company is also completely in the wrong as she was not being payed the same for something that has nothing to do with business. If she was not a good worker, or was not at the same position as the other men working with her than it might make sense, but because she was being payed less for doing the same work it is completely wrong.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the company was wrong in providing unequal gender compensation. Workers should know the salaries of their co-workers, because this helps to prevent this type of discrimination. The fact that she was considered to be "ungrateful" only goes to show how much more work needs to be done (in regards to laws) in order to have compensation equality among all genders.
ReplyDeleteI think the company wasn't completely in the wrong for the wage gap because sometimes it's okay not to pay the same. Unless they have the same skill set and have been working for the same amount of time. You cannot pay someone different solely because of gender. Employees should not be able to know what other coworkers earn, they actually can't because you can get fired for it.
ReplyDeleteThis company sucks, she was under payed by comparison to the male workers for similar work. Co-workers who are in the same branch who are doing similar work should be payed equal. So employees should know what their co-workers are payed to have equal chance to make the same amount of money. Did I mention that this company sucks? :)
ReplyDeleteI feel that the company did do something wrong by not paying Katz the same amount as her Male co-workers. The fact that she had a very high position in her work and she still got payed less than the man is clear evidence of discrimination. I think that workers should be able to know the pay of their co-workers. This is because people must know what they are capable of making and especially if they are doing the same work, they deserve to be paid the same. It shows how horribly the company treats her by calling her, "un-greatfull". They are basically saying that she should be happy with what she gets, but its not fair because she has one of the highest positions in the company.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the point the lady is making is that the company was paying her less based on gender. However it was probably her possition in the company. I do agree that if you are doing the same work and doing it just as well equal pay should be mandated. Most people will not disclose what they are making and that makes this a little scewed
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ReplyDeleteI believe that the company should obviously pay their employees equally for equal work. I think the woman had a right to complain about her lack of pay. However, I do not feel that she is entitled to knowing what her co-workers make as that is a violation of privacy. She deserves the same pay for the same work, but the company has a right to keep their wages for their workers confidential.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the company did do something work because everyone should be paid equally no matter what their gender is. I do feel like co-workers should know how much everyone gets paid; however, it is is a violation of privacy. She has a right to be upset because equality plays a huge role in this situation.
ReplyDeleteThe company should pay everyone equally and not put another gender down. Even though she wanted to know other people's pay it really isn't her business to know others pay.
ReplyDeleteThe company should pay everyone equally and not put another gender down. Even though she wanted to know other people's pay it really isn't her business to know others pay.
ReplyDeleteThe company is in the wrong because it is unfair that they paid her less than the person before her. Wages should be the same for the same job. It would be different if everyone in the company had been given lower wages in between when her predecessor left and she was hired.
ReplyDeleteI do believe the company did something wrong, because they can not base your earnings on your gender, that is considered discrimination. I think that if you are working in the same field or area of work, coworkers should be allowed to know each others earnings because everyone working in the same field should all be paid the same so there should be no reason to hide there earnings.
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ReplyDeleteThe company did wrong in paying her less than her male co worker for the same job. You shouldn't know the earnings of your co workers that's private but you can talk about it to them to see if you have the same salary as them everyone should get paid equally for the same job regardless of gender age or race.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I think that the company did do something wrong because for the same job, she was paid less than her male coworkers. They should be allowed to know what their coworker earns so that they know that they aren't being paid unequally.
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